Karl Rove's IT Guru Killed in Plane Crash, Said Recently Threatened by Rove, Had Been Key Witness in OH '04 Election Fraud Case

I would encourage people to look into this developing story on their own, as there is a lot of conjecture. That said, I am deeply suspicious of anything involving Rove.

So far, web searches are showing this has only showed up on local news. Coverage has been totally missing from CNN, CBS, ABC (except from a brief summary of the crash lifted from the Associated Press), FOXNews, NPR, MSNBC (besides local news stating the crash occurred). The Wall Street Journal did post a press release.


Was the computer guru who helped Karl Rove allegedly steal votes that swung the 2004 election ready to talk? And if so was he killed to shut him up?

From Raw Story:

The Republican consultant accused of involvement in alleged vote-rigging in Ohio in 2004 was warned that his plane might be sabotaged before his death in a crash Friday night, according to a Cleveland CBS affiliate.

45-year-old Republican operative Michael Connell was killed when his single-passenger plane crashed Friday into a home in a suburb of Akron, Ohio. The consultant was called to testify in federal court regarding a lawsuit alleging that he took part in tampering with Ohio's voting results in the 2004 election.

Without getting into specific details, 19 Action News reporter Blake Renault reported Sunday evening that 45-year-old Republican operative and experienced pilot had been warned not to fly his plane in the days before the crash.

"Connell...was apparently told by a close friend not to fly his plane because his plane might be sabotaged," Renault said. "And twice in the last two months Connell, who is an experienced pilot, cancelled two flights because of suspicious problems with his plane."

Connell [was alleged to have been involved] in a ploy to "flip" votes from then Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry to then-President George W. Bush.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviewed Mark Crispin Miller, professor and author, took the story even further into motives:

"Velvet Revolution, a non-profit investigating Connell’s activities, revealed this weekend that Connell had recently said he was afraid George Bush and Dick Cheney would “throw [him] under the bus.” Cliff Arnebeck had also previously alerted Attorney General Michael Mukasey to alleged threats from Karl Rove to Connell if he refused to “take the fall.”

AMY GOODMAN: Alright, well, we had you on right before the election, because that’s when Mike Connell was being deposed. This news that came out of his death in a plane crash on Friday night, talk about what you understand has happened.

MARK CRISPIN MILLER: ...I think we’re obliged to investigate this thing very, very thoroughly. And that means, first of all, taking a close look at some of the stories that were immediately circulated to account for what happened, that it was bad weather. That was the line they used when Wellstone’s plane went down. There had been bad weather, but it had passed two hours before. And this comes from a woman at the airport information desk in Akron. We’re told that his plane was running out of gas, which is a little bit odd for a highly experienced pilot like Connell, but apparently, when the plane went down, there was an explosion, a fireball that actually charred and pocked some of the house fronts in the neighborhood.

When asked about Connell's methods and motivations, Miller said this:

MARK CRISPIN MILLER: [Connell was believed to have said that] one of the primary reasons why he helped Bush-Cheney steal elections was to save the babies. He was an ardent anti-abortionist, it’s true, but he wasn’t quite as hardcore as the others. And in fact, you know, he was a little bit alienated from the others, and that’s one of the reasons why he was inclined to talk, and so on.

READ MORE AT:

- UPDATED 12/25: HUFFINGTON POST
- RAW STORY
- DEMOCRACY NOW
- BRAD BLOG
- VELVET REVOLUTION
- Sourcewatch
- Wikipedia

MORE ON CONNELL:
BRAD BLOG

See how Connell fits into the big picture in the 2004 Ohio Election according to "FREE FOR ALL!: The High-Tech HighJack of Ohio":